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Weekend Argus reports that SA’s investigative ability is facing a serious crisis with a backlog of 1,9 million case dockets and detectives sitting with 300 to 500 dockets each.
Moreover, there is growing concern about the adequate experience of detectives, with more and more younger police officers being absorbed into the detective services. Police Minister Senzo Mchunu described the current backlog as untenable. He said the shortage of detectives was hampering the timely investigation of cases, which in turn affected the prosecution process. As revealed in a November 2024 police briefing, only 15.1% of SA Police Service (SAPS) members are currently deployed in detective roles, which is far below the 20% target. Of the 20,376 officers recruited over the past two years, just 3,142 were assigned to detective services. Johan Burger of the Institute for Security Studies said there are not enough detectives to deal with the growing crime levels. "And I'm talking about serious and violent crimes. The other problem is with the effectiveness of the detectives who don't have enough training,” he commented. Burger noted that the number of trained detectives had almost halved since 2016, just when serious and violent crimes began to spike. He reported that a concerted drive to rehire experienced detectives who had left the service failed because the core problems of poor conditions, low morale, and lack of incentives remained unresolved.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tracy-Lynn Ruiters, Anita Nkonki & Wendy Jasson Da Costa at Weekend Argus
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page